Methods for viral marketing with visual communications

ABSTRACT

Methods for providing a payment account enabling an accountholder of the account to obtain discounts on purchases made at point of sale terminals of a plurality of different merchants and to pay for the purchases with the provided account. Methods further include providing an accountholder of the payment account an online user-account that enables the accountholder to access websites corresponding to the plurality of different merchants and to obtain a discount on each online purchase made at said websites by virtue of said access to a website at which said online purchase is made from said online user-account. The methods further include providing payment accounts to persons sponsored by the accountholder and to individuals sponsored by such sponsored persons and paying commissions to the accountholder based upon purchases made at point of sale terminals of the plurality of different merchants by persons or individuals within such a sponsored network.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This continuation application claims priority benefit, with regard toall common subject matter, of earlier-filed U.S. patent application Ser.No. 13/073,632, filed Mar. 28, 2011, entitled METHODS FOR VIRALMARKETING WITH VISUAL COMMUNICATIONS (“the '821 Application”). The '821application is a continuation application and claims priority benefit,with regard to all common subject matter, of earlier-filed U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/375,821, filed Mar. 15, 2006, now U.S. Pat. No.7,917,402, issued Mar. 29, 2011, and entitled “METHODS FOR VIRALMARKETING WITH VISUAL COMMUNICATIONS.” The identified earlier-filedpatent and patent application are hereby incorporated by reference intheir entirety into the present application.

BACKGROUND Field

The present invention is generally directed to a multilevel affiliatemarketing program. More specifically, the present invention is directedto a system, method and tool for developing a multilevel directaffiliate marketing network using electronic communications.

SUMMARY

The system and method of the present invention provides a multilevelelectronic marketing tool. In accordance with the invention, a personcan become an affiliate marketing member in a direct multi-levelaffiliate marketing program provided by a merchant source of goods,content or services. Preferably, the person becomes an affiliate byentering identifying information at an online web page associated withthe source. After becoming an affiliate member, an electroniccommunication (such as an email) is sent to the affiliate. The e-mailpreferably includes information about the source or goods, content, orservices offered by the source and which are available for purchase atthe source. Additionally, the e-mail preferably includes a link, such asa hyperlink, to the source. Additionally, the electronic communicationpreferably includes information about the opportunity to become anaffiliate member.

In accordance with the invention, the electronic communication to theaffiliate member is encoded with an identifier that is unique to theaffiliate member.

Preferably, this is accomplished by encoding the link to the sourceprovided in the e-mail with an electronic identifier that identifies theaffiliate member. Upon receipt of the electronic communication, theaffiliate member electronically forwards the electronic communication toothers. An individual that receives the forwarded electroniccommunication may utilize the link to access the source (typicallyaccomplished by clicking on the link using a mouse to navigate with abrowser program to the associated web-page or document) and purchasegoods, content or services offered by the source. In accordance with theinvention, the affiliate member is allocated a commission for thepurchase.

Additionally, recipients of the forwarded e-mail may choose to forwardthe e-mail to others. Additional recipients of the forwarded e-mail, nomatter how far down the chain from the original e-mail sent by theaffiliate member, may access the source via the link provided in theforwarded e-mail, and make purchases at the source. The system andmethod of the present invention allocate a commission to the affiliatemember for those purchases resulting from the forwarded e-mail chaincontaining the link to the source that is associated with the affiliatemember.

The system and method of the invention also provide the ability forrecipients of the forwarded e-mail to become an affiliate member. When arecipient of the forwarded e-mail chooses to become an affiliate member,he or she (or the entity) registers online by entering identifyinginformation. The new affiliate member is electronically associated withthe original affiliate member, that is the source of the email, usingthe unique link provided in the electronic communication. In particular,the original affiliate member is considered a direct sponsor of the newaffiliate member, such that the new affiliate member is considered to beon a first level of a direct marketing or affiliate organization of theoriginal affiliate member.

In accordance with the invention, upon becoming an affiliate member, anew electronic communication is sent to the new affiliate member, andthe process begins again. In particular, the new electroniccommunication contains a unique identifier of the new affiliate member,such that recipients of the new e-mail (whether they be directrecipients of the e-mail from the new affiliate member, or subsequentrecipients down a chain of forwarded e-mails) may access the source viathe link embedded in an electronic communication and make purchases atthe source. In accordance with the invention, such purchases will resultin allocations of commissions to the new affiliate member, as well asallocations of commissions to the original sponsoring affiliate member,according to a defined multilevel commission structure. Additionally,recipients of an e-mail containing the new affiliate member's identifiermay also opt to become an affiliate member, in which case the newaffiliate member would become a direct sponsor and the originalaffiliate member would become an indirect sponsor. In other words, insuch a situation, a second-level of the direct marketing or affiliateorganization of the original affiliate member is developed bydevelopment of a first level of the direct marketing or affiliateorganization of the new affiliate member. In a variation of theinvention, the source may send a first welcome email with instructionsand other information and a second email with the uniquely identifyinglink that is adapted for forwarding to others as part of the marketingeffort and the effort to build a multilevel organization of independentaffiliates.

In an alternate embodiment of the present invention, upon becoming a newaffiliate member, the new affiliate member is prompted to go to or isdirected to a page on a website of the source at which the new affiliatemember can select a pre-developed electronic communication or can createan electronic communication that will include the new affiliate member'sidentifying link. The selected or created electronic communication canthen be sent to an electronic address of the new affiliate member forsubsequent forwarding by the new affiliate member or can be sent toothers directly from the source site using, for example, a web-basedemail program. For example, the new affiliate member could beautomatically directed to such a page after completing a registrationprocess or could be prompted to go to such a page. Alternatively, thesource of the affiliate marketing program may send a welcome email tothe new affiliate member with instructions and a link back to such apage at which an electronic communication may be selected or created. Ina variation, the source may send a welcome email with a link back to awebpage at the source at which a web-based email program is used to sendan electronic communication containing the identifying link of theaffiliate member to others.

In accordance with the invention, the source pays commissions to eachaffiliate for purchases made in his, her or the entity's affiliateorganization down through a certain level. The system and method of thepresent invention may be structured to allocate different commissionpercentages on purchases made at different levels of the affiliatemember's direct marketing affiliate organization. Additionally, thesystem and method of the present invention may require that certaincriteria are first met before a commission is allocated. As an example,the system and method of the present invention may require that anaffiliate member have a minimum required number of directly sponsoredaffiliate members before a commission is paid. Additionally, forexample, the system and method of the present invention may require acertain minimum volume of purchase activity within an affiliate member'sdirect affiliate organization during a selected time period before acommission is paid.

In accordance with an additional aspect of the invention, a purchaserwho makes a purchase at said source may automatically become anaffiliate member. Alternatively, the system and method may provide theability for someone accessing the source via a link in a forwardede-mail to opt-in to becoming an affiliate member or, alternatively, toopt-out of becoming an affiliate member.

In accordance with an additional aspect of the invention, an electroniccommunication sent in accordance with the principles of the presentinvention may include a unique logo, symbol or other identifier that isor becomes readily identifiable as indicative of the opportunity tobecome an affiliate member.

In accordance with yet an additional aspect of the invention, the sourcemay provide electronic templates of electronic communications (such asemails) that may be edited or tailored by an affiliate member.Accordingly, for example, a source that offers a variety of products mayoffer templates that focus on different products or different productlines. A particular affiliate member may select a particular templatefor electronic communication and, in one embodiment, create a customizedelectronic communication by adding to the template text, graphics,images and/or audio and/or video content that is personalized by theaffiliate member or selected from provided menu items.

In accordance with yet an additional aspect of the present invention,each affiliate member is provided his or her own web page. Access to thesource via a link in an electronic communication sent by an affiliatemember, that includes the stated unique identifier tag identifying theaffiliate member, results in access at the source at the particular webpage associated with the affiliate member. Access to such a page may(but need not) just capture the unique identifier and then immediatelyand automatically redirect the access to a home page or other page ofthe source website. Preferably, the process of becoming an affiliatemember involves a person accessing a website and entering identifyinginformation such as his or her name, address, telephone number, ande-mail address. In one embodiment of the invention, commissions due toan affiliate member are paid by writing and sending a check for thecommissions to the physical address of the user. Such commission checkscould be paid with any desired frequency, such as monthly, quarterly,semi-annually, annually, etc., but are preferably paid monthly orquarterly. In accordance with an alternative aspect of the invention, aperson desiring to become an affiliate member may use informationassociated with an anonymous payment account, such as those provided byPayPal, thus enabling the person to become an affiliate member withoutactually divulging his or her personal identity to the source or sponsorof the affiliate marketing program. In such an embodiment, accumulatedcommission payments due to an affiliate member may be deposited into thepayment account for retrieval by the affiliate member associated withthe account. Again, such deposits are preferably made on a periodicbasis with each deposit corresponding to ajust-completed time period,although commission deposits could be made at the time of each purchase.The payment account, which is stored on a server associated with thesource of the affiliate program, on the server of a gateway organizationthat is managing the marketing program, or on a server associated with apayment entity (such as PayPal), can also be used by its owner to payfor purchases made at the source. Indeed, one aspect of the inventionitself includes a payment account feature, such that the system of thepresent invention supports provision of a payment account that isoffered by the source. Accordingly, a user could use a third partypayment account (such as PayPal or a Google Payment account) or couldsign up for a similar account that is offered by the source.

In accordance with the invention, electronic communications, such asemail communications, providing information about the source or itsproducts and/or services are periodically sent to all affiliate members.These communications are encoded so that an e-mail received by aparticular affiliate member will include his or her identification codeor tag. Doing so provides the affiliate membership with periodiccommunications that can be forwarded to others to stimulate commercewith the source. Additionally, electronic communications in such acampaign may also be sent to prior customers of the source who are notaffiliate members. In one embodiment, such prior customers make a choiceto opt-in or opt-out of such e-mail solicitations the first time thecustomer visits the source site or makes a purchase at the source.Preferably, such electronic communications to prior customers alsoinclude the identifying link of the affiliate member associated with thecustomer from a prior purchase. However, prior customers may remainassociated with an affiliate member via a database link, such that anypurchase of the customer, whether resulting from an access to source 12via a uniquely encoded link or not, results in a commission allocation.

As an additional feature of the present invention, a physical cataloguefeaturing products and/or services of the source may be sent to physicaladdresses of affiliate members and prior customers. Each catalogue iscoded with an identifying code of an affiliate member. In particular, aprior customer receives a catalogue that is coded with the affiliatemember with which that customer is associated based upon a priortransaction at the source. The customer may place a purchase order for aproduct or service by accessing the website of the source or by callinga telephone call center associated with the source and providing theidentification code printed on the catalogue. Doing so will causecommissions for the purchase to be allocated, to affiliate members inthe network of the affiliate member associated with the identificationcode, according to a defined multilevel commission structure.

The present invention does not require use of cookies that are placed onthe computing terminal of a potential purchaser or an affiliate member.However, the invention may also employ use of cookies deposited oncomputing terminals that are used to access the online source as anadditional way to identify individuals that return to the source.

The present invention also provides analytical tools for evaluating datarelated to a number of hits to a source site, a number of page hits,time spent on the site, the timeliness of hits to the source siterelative to the sending of an electronic communications marketingcampaign, volume and dollar amount of purchases relative to such acampaign and as compared with other campaigns, and other informationobtained from data indicative of the electronic communication(s) and theresponse thereto.

Additionally, while preferred embodiments of the present inventioninvolve automatically populating an electronic communication with aunique link that identifies a specific affiliate member, an affiliatemember may also manually type or paste his, her or its associated linkinto an electronic communication that is sent to others.

Additionally, while one primary embodiment of the present inventionemploys electronic communications that are emails (which includesattachments to emails having a link therein), it should be understoodthat other electronic communications or content may be employed by thepresent invention, such as web-pages of any and all types, online blogs,instant messages (IM), chat features, or on a page displayed duringoutput of an online broadcast audio or video stream or a streaming ordownloaded audio or video recording.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts a system employed by the present invention;

FIG. 2 depicts an example of a direct affiliate marketing networkdeveloped in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 3 depicts an example of a database table according to the presentinvention;

FIG. 4 depicts an example of a hierarchal database structure accordingto the present invention;

FIG. 5A depicts examples of unique electronic links generated and usedby the present invention, wherein a unique identifier is used in asubdomain of the unique electronic link;

FIG. 5B depicts examples of unique electronic links generated and usedby the present invention, wherein a unique identifier includes a uniquepath at a source site;

FIG. 6 depicts an example of an electronic email communication of thepresent invention;

FIG. 7 depicts an example of web-pages displayed by a system of thepresent invention;

FIG. 8 depicts an example of an online user-account of the presentinvention;

FIG. 9 depicts a flow-chart indicative of a method and operation fordeveloping a multilevel affiliate marketing program according to thepresent invention;

FIG. 10 depicts a flowchart of a method and operation of a system of thepresent invention;

FIG. 11 depicts an electronic toolbar of the present invention;

FIG. 12 depicts an alternate embodiment of a system employed by thepresent invention;

FIG. 13 depicts an example of an electronic email communication of theembodiment of the present illustrated and described in conjunction withFIG. 12;

FIG. 14 depicts a web-based email tool of the present invention;

FIG. 15 depicts a web-page associated with the embodiment of FIGS. 12and 13; and

FIG. 16 depicts an anti-script feature of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

With reference to FIG. 1, a system used by the present invention isdenoted generally by the reference numeral 10. System 10 has a source 12having or in communication with a database 13. Source 12 is a sourcethat offers goods, services, and/or digital content or media. Source 12provides subject matter for review digitally in an online manner, suchas at a website that is accessible by communications devices 14 via acommunications network 16. Communications devices 14 may be of a varietyof types including personal computers 18, laptop computers 20, mobilewireless devices 22, including cellular telephones, or other types ofcommunications devices, such as interactive televisions orcomputing-based media systems connected to a network, as represented byblock 24.

Communications devices 14 communicate with source 12 via communicationsnetwork 16. Communications network 16 is preferably a globalcommunications network and is intended to encompass any and/or all typesof communications networks including wide area networks and local areanetworks and combinations thereof employing wire, cable, fiber-optic,wireless, and/or other technologies. In particular, communicationsnetwork 16 may include, without limitation, any form oftelecommunications network. Communications network may include, but isnot limited to cellular networks, satellite networks, WiFi and/or WiMaxhotspots, nodes, and/or networks, etc. It should be understood thatcommunications network 16 may use a wide variety of protocols, includingInternet protocols, which is a collection of interconnected networksthat are linked together by a set of standard protocols (such as TCP/IPand HTTP) to form a global, distributed network. It should also beunderstood that the present invention contemplates and covers networksand protocols developed, refined and/or advanced in the future,including but not limited to Internet2, or UCAID (University Corporationfor Advanced Internet Development).

Online source 12 has a website that is accessible at an electronicaddress on communications network 16 and is preferably accessible viathe worldwide web at a Uniform Resource Locator (URL). As will beappreciated, source 12 may offer goods, services, and/or contentexclusively online, or may also offer goods via other distributionchannels, such as retail and wholesale outlet stores, physical catalogs,etc. As will also be appreciated, system 10 will employ one or more hostservers that may be owned and operated by the source 12 or by anotherentity that has a relationship with source 12.

In accordance with the present invention, source 12 provides anaffiliate marketing program that includes an opportunity for persons(including entities) to become an affiliate member and develop a directmulti-level affiliate marketing organization. In one embodiment of theinvention, source 12 manages the affiliate marketing program itself andprovides the tools and/or resources necessary to the program. In analternate embodiment, a separate entity operates a gateway, such asgateway 26 having (or in communication with) a database 27 shown in FIG.1, that manages the affiliate marketing program for source 12 and alsomay manage other multilevel affiliate marketing programs for entities orcompanies other than source 12.

With reference now to FIG. 2, the affiliate marketing program of thepresent invention is illustrated and described.

FIG. 2 depicts a direct multilevel affiliate marketing network ororganization of independent affiliate members that has been developed inaccordance with the principles of the present invention. Source 12offers the inventive direct affiliate marketing program and opportunity.Solid blocks 28 represent persons (i.e., individuals or entities) thathave become affiliate members of the direct affiliate marketing program.Affiliate members are also likely customers of source 12. Open blocks 30represent persons (i.e., individuals or entities) that have been acustomer of source 12 but who are not affiliate members.

In accordance with the invention, a first person P1 may become anaffiliate member of the affiliate marketing program associated withsource 12. Person P1 is an individual or an entity, but is likely mostoften to be an individual. Person P1 becomes an affiliate member byaccessing source 12 (or gateway 26) and choosing to become an affiliatemember and entering identifying information (as discussed further inconjunction with FIG. 7). Person P1 may become an affiliate member byaccessing source 12 (or gateway 26) after seeing or hearing informationabout the offering. In particular, for example, person P1 may direct abrowser program in a communications device 14 to a website of source 12or gateway 26 by typing or pasting a URL into a browser field or byselecting a link provided in an advertisement or in a search result. Insuch a case, person P1 may be placed at the top of a new branch of theaffiliate marketing network, may be randomly assigned to a position withthe affiliate marketing network by a random position generator, or maybe placed directly beneath another affiliate member based upon someidentifying criteria (such as the person P1 accessing affiliate memberprofiles and selecting a position within the network, or person P1selecting an affiliate member who communicated the opportunity to personP1, or person P1 being automatically matched with another affiliatemember based upon criteria such as closet physical address, etc.).

Alternatively, in accordance with an aspect of the invention, person P1becomes an affiliate member in the following manner. Person P1 receivesan electronic communication from source 12 or gateway 26 at acommunications device 14 associated with person P1. The electroniccommunication is preferably in the form of electronic mail (email) withor without attachments such that the electronic communication includes,alone or in combination, text, graphics, images, audio, and video. In atypical embodiment, the electronic communication is an email thatincludes information about source 12 and/or one or more goods, servicesor content offerings of source 12. The electronic communication may be atext email or an email newsletter (such as an email with html encoded orcombined text/html encoding) that further includes at least somegraphics or images to enhance the communication, although this is notnecessary. Graphics, images, and other content (such as audio) may beembedded in the email communication or may be provided as links in theemail such that graphics, images and/or other content is accessed from asite of the source 12 or gateway 26 upon opening of the email.Additionally, the electronic communication includes an indication of theopportunity to become an affiliate member of the direct multi-levelaffiliate marketing program offered by source 12. This indication ispreferably in the form of a short written statement that presents or atleast references the opportunity to become an affiliate member, butcould also be just a logo, symbol, icon or other mark that, throughadvertising and/or the development of goodwill, has become known torepresent such a unique affiliate marketing opportunity.

The electronic communication sent to person P1 also includes a link backto a source associated with the affiliate marketing program (i.e.,source 12 or gateway 26). As illustrated, person P1 is at the top of themulti-level affiliate marketing network comprised of affiliate members28. Accordingly, as illustrated, person P1 received the electroniccommunication directly from a source associated with the affiliatemarketing program (i.e., source 12 or gateway 26). In that regard,source 12 can initiate its direct affiliate marketing program by sendingelectronic communications, such as emails, to only person P1 or,preferably (but not shown), to a large number of people in asimultaneous or substantially simultaneous effort to develop multiplebranches of the affiliate marketing network.

Upon receipt of the electronic communication, person P1 may become anaffiliate member by accessing the source associated with the affiliatemarketing program (such as source 12 or gateway 26) via the linkprovided in the electronic communication and entering identifyinginformation to become an affiliate member. In this regard, entry of theidentifying information may be solely for the purpose of becoming anaffiliate member, or entry of the identifying information may be part ofa purchase of goods, services and/or content made by person P1 at source12. In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, a person (suchas person P1) who accesses source 12 automatically becomes an affiliatemember upon making a purchase. Alternatively, system 10 is set-up toautomatically make a person an affiliate member when making a purchaseunless the person expressly chooses to opt-out of the affiliatemarketing program. Alternatively, system 10 is set-up so as not toautomatically make a person an affiliate member upon making a purchase,but rather gives the person an opportunity to opt-in to becoming anaffiliate member upon making a purchase at source 12.

As part of the process of person P1 becoming an affiliate member, system10 associates a unique identifier with person P1. The unique identifiermay be based upon information entered into system 10 by person P1 (suchas an actual name or user name), or may be a randomly assigned, uniquestring of characters (such as numbers and/or letters, and possibly othercharacters) that have no visual correlation with person P1. If thesystem employs a technique that uses a person's name or user name as theunique identifier and there is already an affiliate member in system 10with the same name or user name, system 10 either prompts the user toenter another user name, prompts the user to select a name from aprovide list of generated names, or automatically generates a new username (such as by adding one or more characters to

the previously entered name). In particular, system 10 uses the uniqueidentifier in a link that is placed in an electronic communicationassociated with the affiliate member so that access to source 12 via theprovided link, and purchases then made, are associated with theaffiliate member.

FIGS. 5A and 5B illustrate examples of techniques that the presentinvention may employ in using an affiliate member's unique identifier tocreate a unique link or HTML tag. In FIG. 5A, assuming that the uniqueidentifier for person P1 is “P1” and that the URL for the source 12 iswww.gofiniti.com. the link http://www.pl.gofiniti.com is used. As shown,the unique identifier is used in a subdomain, thereby creating a uniqueelectronic address for the affiliate member P1. Alternatively, as shownin FIG. 5B, the unique identifier may be used to create a unique path atthe source site, such as http://www.gofiniti.com/amlP1.wherein..am..isan acronym for affiliate member. It will be appreciated that this isjust an example, and that other paths using an affiliate member's uniqueidentifier may be used. It will be appreciated that the actual detailsof the link may, and will likely be masked or obscured by a text stringor graphic in a conventional manner, at least until the link is selectedor a mouse-pointer is moved over the link. As an example, a text linkmay be made by coding a hyperlink with a reference URL (such as a fullURL or relative URL) and a text string that is to become the link, suchas

<A HREF=..http://www.pl.gofiniti.com/•.>GoFiniti</A>

As an example, an image link may be encoded as:

<A HREF=..http://www.pl.gofiniti.com/..><IMG SRC=“image.gif”></A

In one embodiment, when a person becomes an affiliate member, system 10automatically generates an electronic communication to send back toperson P1. FIG. 6 illustrates a representative example of such anelectronic communication that is in the form of an email. The generatedelectronic communication includes the unique identifier that wasassigned to person P1 during registration of person P1 as a newaffiliate member. As illustrated in FIG. 6, the email includes textand/or images and/or graphics indicating information about the source 12and/or its products, services and/or content, as well as informationabout becoming an affiliate member. As illustrated, a logo 31 indicativeof the affiliate member opportunity is provided. Also provided is alogo, icon, symbol, mark, and/or text and a link, denoted by referencenumeral 33, to initiate a voice communication with source 12 or itsrepresentative. Such a voice link, for example, could open a page thatprompts the user to input his or her telephone number. The database thendials the telephone number of source 12 and establishes a connectionwith the user's telephone number, as well. An example of such technologyis the “Click to Call” offering of Google. Additionally, in accordancewith the present invention, a video conference link can be establishedover the connection enabling the parties to the call to engage in avideo conference. Additionally, with use of Windows or different frames,or alternatively, the parties to the call can simultaneously viewweb-meeting or presentation slides offered by the source. The electroniccommunication also preferably includes a “Forward” button or link 35 andan unsubscribe (or opt-out) “button” or link 37. Additionally, andimportantly, the electronic communication sent to person P1 includes atleast one electronic link 29 back to the source associated with theaffiliate program (source 12 or gateway 26) where the link 29 includesthe unique identifier. As stated above, it should be understood that theactual details of the link may and will likely be obscured or masked bya highlighted or underlined text string or by a graphic usingconventional techniques for programming links. Person P1 then forwardsthe received email (either “as is” or by adding additional commentand/or subject matter) to others persons, such as persons P2, P3, and P4depicted in FIG. 2. Upon receipt of the forwarded electroniccommunication to persons P2, P3 and P4, persons P2, P3 and P4 can accessthe source associated with the affiliate marketing program via theuniquely coded link provided in the electronic communication and, uponsuch access, system 10 is able to automatically associate the personaccessing the source (i.e., P2, P3 or P4) with person P1. If person P2,P3 or P4 makes a purchase at the source 12 after making access via theprovided link, person P1 may be allocated a commission for the purchaseaccording to a commission schedule of the affiliate marketing program.

Additionally, one, some or all of persons P2, P3 and P4 may also becomenew affiliate members in one of the manners described above. Asillustrated in FIG. 2, and solely for the purpose of an example, personsP2 and P4 become affiliate members, but persons P3 does not. Inaccordance with the invention, person P2 (and similar person P4) isplaced on a first level (illustrated as Level 1) of the direct affiliatemarketing network of person P1. A database associated with source 12and/or gateway 26 associates P1 and P2 in that fashion so that thedatabase recognizes P1 to be the direct sponsor of person P2. Uponperson P2 becoming an affiliate member, system 10 assigns person P2 aunique identifier and sends person P2 an electronic communication, suchas an email, that includes a link to source 12 or gateway 26 (i.e., asource associated with the affiliate marketing program), where that linkincludes the unique identifier identifying person P2.

Person P2 can then forward that e-mail to other persons, such as personsP5, P6 and P7 as shown in FIG. 2, and the process is repeated. In otherwords, persons P5, P6 and P7 may access source 12 via the link and makepurchases and/or become a new affiliate member. In the exampleillustrated, persons P5 and P6 become affiliate members, but person P6does not. As described above, system 10 generates an electroniccommunication for each of person P5 and P6 that includes a linkcontaining person P5's and person P6's unique identifier, respectively,and the process continues with persons P5 and P6 forwarding the e-mailto others, as illustrated. Accordingly, new affiliate members P5 and P6are each on a second level of person P1's multi-level affiliate networkand are on a first level of person P2's network. Also, purchases made byPersons P5, P6 and P7 at source 12 may result in a commission payable toP1 and to P2 based upon a commission structure of the affiliatemarketing program.

At times, a person may decide not to become an affiliate marketingmember but may forward a received electronic communication to otherpersons. An example of this is illustrated in FIG. 2 with person P17.Person P17 did not become an affiliate member, but forwarded theelectronic communication received from person P10 to person P28.Accordingly, purchases made at source 12 as a result of person P28accessing source 12 via the link provided in the received electroniccommunication will be attributed to person P10 and may result incommissions to person P10 (and Persons P4 and P1) based upon thecommission structure of the affiliate program. Additionally, purchasesmade by persons P16, P17, P18, P19, and 20 are attributed to person P10and may entitled person P10, Person P4 and Person P1 to commissionpayments.

From the foregoing, it will be understood that this process replicatesitself as the levels of the direct affiliate marketing organizationsgrow. It should also be understood that an actual multi-levelorganization developed with the present invention may and likely willlook significantly different than the one illustrated and that there ispreferably no limit to the number of persons to which an affiliatemember may forward an electronic communication. So, for example, whileperson P1 is illustrated to have forwarded an electronic communicationto three other persons, person P1 may in fact forward an electroniccommunication to any number of persons, and so on.

It should be understood that review and forwarding of emails byaffiliate members and others, such as customers or potential customers,may be accomplished using the person's locally stored email program orthe persons web-based e-mail service. Current examples of popular emailprograms include Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Lite. Gmail from Googleand web-based email offering such as Hotmail from Microsoft, AOL's emailservice, and many others are well known and require no furtherexplanation.

In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, source 12 orgateway 26 provides a web-based email application, that can be used inconjunction with other email applications, as illustrated and describedin FIG. 14. In particular, an email includes a “Forward” link (such asForward link 35 in FIG. 6) which, when selected, causes a browser in acommunications device 14 at which the email is being viewed to navigateto a source associated with the email, such as source 12 or gateway 26,and access a webpage and web-based email manager for forwarding theemail. As shown in FIG. 14, the page provides a forwarding emailtemplate 116 including a name field 118 for inserting (using a keyboardor voice equipment and voice recognition software) the forwardingperson's name, a sender's address field (of “from field”) 120 forinserting the forwarding person's e-mail address, a subject line field122 for inserting a subject line (which can be automatically populatedwith changeable text, such as “I think you may enjoy this”), a body orcomment field 124 into which the sender may insert additional text, andone or more recipient address fields (or “To fields”) 126 into which thesender inserts email address of intended recipients to whom theforwarding sender wishes to send the email. A “Forward” button or link128 is selected (such as with a computer mouse) and the system 10forwards the email (preferably one by one) to the named email addresses.Preferably, when multiple recipient addresses are entered, the web-basedemail tool sends individual emails to each recipient, rather than a bulkemail. Use of this web-based email tool allows system 10 to obtain morecomplete information for analysis, including statistics on the number ofemails that are propagated, how many are opened, how many result inaccess to source 12 or gateway 26, etc.

Additionally, in accordance with another aspect of the invention, theweb-based forwarding tool of the present invention can be used tofurther add identifying information into forwarded emails. Thus, asdescribed above, an email sent to Person P1 includes a link thatuniquely identifies person P1. In one embodiment, when person P1 selectsthe Forward link in the email for accessing the web-based email tool ofthe present invention, source 12 or gateway 26 populates the link to bepresented in the forwarded email with an additional identifying code.For example, the link populated by source 12 or gateway 26 may behttp://www.pl.a.gofiniti.com or http://www.gofiniti.com/am/pl/a, etc. Inthis way, system 10 can monitor more details of the communications. Forexample, recipients of such an encoded link that access the site via thelink are associated with Person P1 as previously described, but system10 also records that the “a” link, for example, was accessed. If theimmediate recipients of an email containing this “a” link use theweb-tool to forward the email to others, system 10 can encode a newlink, such as http://www.pl.b.gofiniti.com orhttp://www.gofiniti.com/am/pl/b. In this way, the system will be able tocollect and maintain information on the level from P1 (or number oflinks removed from person P1) a particular person is when accessing thesource 12 or gateway 26. It will be appreciated that the links can beencoded in a wide-variety of manners in addition to those illustrated byway of example here. Additional aspects of the invention includeproviding a limited number of “To′” fields in the web-based emailprogram, thus requiring multiple visits to the host site to send moreemails than are permitted by the template. Additionally, the inventioncan be programmed to strictly limit the number of emails that will besent using a particular link. Additionally, the invention can beprogrammed to require that the web-based forwarding tool provided by thesource 12 or gateway 26 (as opposed to a forwarding feature of an emailprogram such as, for example, Outlook) be used in order to qualify apurchase made via the link in the forwarded email for commissions. Inparticular, the invention can be programmed such that, once one personin the email chain fails to use the web-based forwarding tool, allsubsequent purchases resulting from any links in the downstream chain ofemails will fail to qualify for a commission. Alternatively, theinvention can be programmed such that only purchases made in theimproperly forwarded email will fail to trigger a commission, whereasrecipients of such an email that forward it using the web-based toolwill obtain commissions. Additionally, the system can be programmed torequire an affiliate member to enter a user name and/or password beforethe email can be forwarded. As examples, a requirement to enter ausername and/or a password can be made before accessing the webpage ofFIG. 14 or before a send function with operate. Additionally, thepresent invention may employ anti-scripting tools to prohibit use ofscripts. For example, an access code can be provided (for example beforeaccessing page 14 or before a send function will operate) as a graphicthat cannot be read by a script program. An example of such ananti-script feature is shown in FIG. 16. Such aspects of the invention,as well as data collection aspects that monitor the number of emailssent and use of additional anti-scripting tools, etc., can be used toprevent spam, as incentives to prevent spam, and/or as evidence insituations in which an allegation of spam is made. In this regard, theinvention of the present system is designed to fully comply withrequirements against spam electronic communications while providing asafe and effective tool for legitimate providers of product or servicesto market their offerings and providing an efficient income opportunityfor individuals and entities that choose to become affiliates.

With additional reference to FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, examples of a databasetable format and a hierarchal database structure of the presentinvention are illustrated and described.

FIG. 3 is representative of a database table having records, representedby rows in the table, associated with each affiliate member, P1, P2, P3. . . Pn. The database table also has columns, or database fields (ordimensions), representative of information corresponding to theaffiliate members. As shown, these fields may include one or more of anaffiliate member's actual name, user name (which may be different froman actual name), mailing address, email address, telephone number(s),financial or payment account information, and unique identifier (and/orlink containing the unique identifier). Additionally, the databaseincludes a sponsor field indicating each affiliate member's directsponsor. Conventional database management and structure will be readilyunderstood by those with skill in the art, and it will be understoodthat a variety of hierarchal and relational database techniques andconnection attributes may be employed and that a variety of additionalfields could be included in the database. One additional example of afield in the database may be a password field that identifies a passwordnecessary for the affiliate member to access his or her user account.

FIG. 4 illustrates a graphical example of a hierarchal databasestructure, such as parent/child database structure, representative ofthe direct affiliate network illustrated in FIG. 2 and stored in thetable(s) of the database. As shown, for example, Person P1 has directlysponsored person P2 and person P4. Person P2 has, in turn, directlysponsored Persons P5 and P6. As will be appreciated, each affiliatemember is shown indented just beyond that affiliate member's immediatesponsor. Additionally, it will now be understood that the database (or aseparate database) also maintains information on each prior customer(who is not an affiliate member) and his or her (or its in the case ofan entity) affiliation with a one of the affiliate members. Accordingly,in one embodiment, in addition to including records of affiliatemembers, the database includes records of prior customers (who are notaffiliate members), where such records include an affiliate field,similar to the sponsor field, to associate each prior customer with aone of the affiliate members.

As an additional aspect of the present invention, source 12 or gateway26 periodically sends additional electronic communications to theaffiliate members and to prior purchasers. Such a communication would beuseful for offering a promotion or announcing a new product, service orcontent offering. Each such electronic communication sent to anaffiliate member includes a link containing that affiliate member'sunique code. Upon receipt of such an electronic communication, theaffiliate member may access the source 12 via the provided link and makepurchases and/or forward the electronic communication to others. Suchadditional electronic communications sent to prior purchasers who arenot affiliate members will contain the unique identifier of theaffiliate member previously associated with that prior customer suchthat a resulting purchase made via the link will be attributed to thesame affiliate member.

In accordance with an aspect of the invention, an address listcontaining the name and/or electronic address of each person to whom ane-mail is sent containing an affiliate member's code is available to theaffiliate member via a user-account (described below) of the affiliatemember provided at the source 12 or gateway 26. Alternatively, such alist identifies only those persons or addresses on a first level of thataffiliate member's network or who previously made a purchase as a directresult of an electronic communication directly received from thataffiliate member. In this way, an affiliate member may choose not toforward the electronic communication to those who have already receivedsuch a communication from source 12 or gateway 26.

The present invention also provides a user-account for each affiliatemember and the ability for an affiliate member to log into his, her orits account and develop electronic communications from templates and/orwith provided and selectable text, graphics, images, and content. Inthis way, an affiliate member may create an electronic communication(such as an email), including a link containing the affiliate member'sunique identifier, that is then sent to the affiliate member forforwarding. In this regard, system 10 preferably automatically populatesthe communication being created with the link containing the affiliatemember's unique identifier. Alternatively, the created communication maybe created online using linking and/or framing techniques and need notbe transmitted to a mailbox of the affiliate member for forwarding, butmay be sent directly to others from the server of source 12 or gateway26 by populating a “To” field with electronic addresses and activating a“send” key or command. The account of the affiliate member preferablyincludes an electronic address book to enable such transmissions to becompleted efficiently. Additionally, a serial number or other identifiermay be applied to such communications and that serial number provided asa link next to each address to which it is sent so that an affiliatemember may later recall those communications that have been sent to aparticular addressee.

In accordance with the invention, commissions are allocated to anaffiliate member, such as affiliate member P1, based upon purchases madeby persons in the affiliate member's downstream multi-levelorganization. Such commissions are based upon a commission structure ofthe marketing program and could include commissions payable through acertain number of levels of an affiliate member's network (or only onone level, such as level 7, for example), and could include qualifyingcriteria such as the necessity that an affiliate member directly sponsorand/or retain a selected number of new affiliate members before acommission is paid. It will be understood that the affiliate membershipprogram could provide a structure that enables promotions toprogressively more senior levels, with resulting higher commissions,based upon criteria being met. However, the present invention does notrequire such a structure and works well with a more simple approachwhich does not require educating the direct multi-level organization onsuch a promotion-based structure. Indeed, one purpose of the presentinvention is to provide a unique financial opportunity to individuals(while providing a powerful distribution channel to sources of goods,services and/or content) that, after becoming an affiliate member,requires little or nothing more than sending or forwarding one or moreelectronic communications to others.

Commissions due to affiliate members are preferably accumulated during aselect period and then paid to the affiliate members following theselected period. For example, commissions could be paid weekly, monthly,bimonthly, semimonthly, quarterly, semiannually, annually or on anotherdefined schedule. In accordance with one preferred feature of thepresent invention, commission payments are made by depositing thecommission payments directly into a financial account of an affiliatemember. As discussed above, an anonymous payment account, such as thoseoffered by PayPal, can be used thereby enabling an affiliate member toaccess the account and retrieve the payment. Also, with the availabilityof a financial account of an affiliate member, amounts corresponding toa commission allocation may be made at the time of a purchase, such thatan amount is deposited into the affiliate member's account at the timeof a purchase. Alternatively, commission checks can be cut and sent toaffiliate members. Additionally, statements preferably accompany thepayments or are available via an affiliate member's online user account.

As one aspect of the invention, source 12 may offer a discount buyingprogram which enables persons to obtain discounts on purchases so longas certain criteria are met (such as paying a periodic membership feeand/or purchasing a minimum monetary amount of goods in a given timeperiod in order to be retained in the buying program). Such a discountbuying program works best with consumable products that need to bereplenished periodically. If source 12 offers a discount buying program,commissions to affiliate members are also paid for such periodicpurchases, even though purchases may be not as a result of a customeraccessing source 12 via a uniquely encoded link since, according to oneaspect of the invention, once a customer (whether part of a periodicbuying program or not) is assigned to an affiliate member the customerwill remain assigned to the affiliate member unless the customer haschanged his or her affiliation to another affiliate member.

With additional reference to FIG. 7, representative examples ofweb-pages at source 12 and/or gateway 26 are illustrated and described.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of three web pages denoted as Screen 1,Screen 2 and Screen 3. Screen 1 is representative of a web page at whicha person accessing the website associated with source 12 may view uponaccessing a link presented in a received electronic communications, asset forth above. Screen 1 offers a product (or service or content) forsale and provides an option to buy the product. Preferably, textdescribing the product and/or source 12 is also presented as is anopportunity to become an affiliate member. Screen 2 is representative ofa web page at which a user enters personal information, either for thepurpose of making a purchase at source 12 or for the purpose of becomingan affiliate member (or both). As will be understood, the enteredinformation creates a record in a table of the database, describedabove, that is developed in accordance with the present invention.Screen 3 is representative of a webpage confirming a purchase order madeby a user and displaying alternative options of (a) offering anaffiliate membership (b) opting into an affiliate membership or (c)opting out of an affiliate membership. It will be understood andappreciated that web-site design, including individual page design andpath development, is largely a function of the creativity of the webdesigner and that the illustrated Screens are provided merely asrepresentative examples and not in a limiting sense. Persons with skillin the art will readily understand the widely available web-page dataentry and shopping cart techniques and offerings. Additionally, as partof the process of registering to become an affiliate member, it will beappreciated that a variety of identifying information could be required,including entity type, position of person registering on behalf of anentity, etc., an age requirement (such as at least 18), entry of thetypes of electronic communications to be used in the affiliate marketingeffort (emails, blogs, search, mobile, browser plug-in, website, audioor video cast, etc.) The pages shown here are for illustrative purposesonly, and it will also be appreciated that a person may become anaffiliate member without making a purchase.

With additional reference to FIG. 8, a representative example of a useraccount of an affiliate member is illustrated and described.

As discussed, upon becoming an affiliate member, the new affiliatemember may be provided with an online user account. Such a user accountmay be used to access a financial account for receiving commissionpayments, to create and manage electronic communications to be sent toothers, to store historical records of prior communications and paymentstatements, to maintain an online address book, to maintain and updatepersonal information, to visualize the affiliate member's directmultilevel affiliate marketing organization, and/or to review statisticsconcerning source 12, the affiliate member's direct multilevel affiliatemarketing organization, and/or the source 12's entire marketingorganization. The Screens displayed in FIG. 8 provide representativeexamples only and are not intended to be limiting.

With additional reference to FIG. 9, a flow chart of a method or methodsof the present invention and the development of a direct multilevelaffiliate marketing program of the present invention is illustrated anddescribed.

As shown in FIG. 9, at step 30, system 10 sends an electroniccommunication, such as an email, to a first person or a first group ofpersons. The electronic communication preferably includes informationabout source 12 and/or one or more its product, service or contentofferings, as well as a link to source 12 (or gateway 26) in order tolink back to the source 12. At step 32, a first person (P1) accessessource 12 or gateway 26 and registers to become an affiliate member inthe manner described above. As part of the registration process, system10 assigns a unique identifier to the new affiliate member P1 and storesa new record indicative of the new affiliate member P1 in database 13 or27. At step 34, system 10 automatically generates and sends to anelectronic address of new affiliate member P1 an electroniccommunication, such as an email, containing a hyperlink to source 12 orgateway 26, wherein the hyperlink contains the unique identifier ofaffiliate member P1. At step 36, new affiliate member P1 forwards thereceived electronic communication containing the unique identifying linkto a second person or second group of people. At step 38, a secondperson P2 accesses source 12 or gateway 26 via the unique identifyinglink in the forwarded email and becomes a new affiliate member of theaffiliate marketing program by registering. As part of the registrationprocess, system 10 assigns a unique identifier to the new affiliatemember P2 and stores a new record indicative of the new affiliate memberP2 in database 13 or 27. In accordance with the invention, new affiliatemember P2 is related to affiliate member P1 and is considered directlysponsored by affiliate member P1 in person P1's developing directmultilevel affiliate marketing network. At step 40, system 10automatically generates and sends to an electronic address of newaffiliate member P2 an electronic communication, such as an email,containing a hyperlink to source 12 or gateway 26, wherein the hyperlinkcontains the unique identifier of affiliate member P2. At step 42, newaffiliate member P2 forwards the received electronic communicationcontaining the unique identifying link to a third person or third groupof people, and the process of developing the direct multilevel affiliatemarketing network continues. Step 44 illustrates that system 10allocates commissions, preferably on multiple levels of the affiliatemarketing network, according to a defined commission structure, onpurchases made by affiliate members or others according to associationof the purchaser with an affiliate member. Step 46 illustrates thatsystem 10 periodically sends electronic communications, each encodedwith a particular link identifying an affiliate member, to the affiliatemember network and/or to prior customers who are not affiliate members.Such periodic communications stimulate commerce with source 12 andenhance income opportunities for affiliate members with no additionalwork required on the part of the affiliate members.

In accordance with an additional aspect of the invention, anadvertisement with a link to another merchant may be included in suchemails, where that advertising merchant mayor may not be part of anaffiliate program. Such advertising could (but need not be) included ona pay-per-click basis. Commissions on revenue earned by source 12 orgateway 26 for advertising may (but need not be) allocated to theaffiliate members according to a multilevel affiliate commissionstructure.

With additional reference to FIG. 10, a flowchart of a method or methodscarried out by, and from the perspective of, system 10 is illustratedand described.

At step 50 of FIG. 10, system 10 sends an electronic communication, suchas an email, to a person or group of people. The electroniccommunication preferably includes information about source 12 and/or oneor more its product, service or content offerings, as well as a link tosource 12 (or gateway 26) in order to link back to the source 12. Atstep 52, source 12 grants access to a person (such as person P1)accessing source 12 via the link provided in the electroniccommunication. At step 54, system 10 determines whether the person P1 ismaking a purchase at source 12. If the person P1 is making a purchase atsource 12, processing advances to step 56 at which person P1 isassociated with an affiliate member, if any. As will be apparent fromthe description above, this association is typically made by capturingthe identity of the affiliate member from the hyperlink used to accessthe site and retrieving the corresponding affiliate member's identityfrom the database. As will be appreciated, in the example providedherein, person P1 sits at the top of a branch of the affiliate marketingnetwork, and therefore has no direct affiliate member sponsor. Onceperson P1 is associated with an affiliate member, if any, processingadvances to step 58 at which the desired purchase(s) is/are processed.At step 60, system 10 allocates a commission (if any) to those affiliatemembers who earn a commission on the purchase(s) based upon theassociation with an affiliate member (and the resulting indirectassociation with an affiliate network) and a defined commissionstructure. At the completion of step 60, or if it is determined at step54 that no purchase is being made, processing then advances to step 62.

At step 62, system 10 determines whether person P1 is to become anaffiliate member of a multilevel affiliate marketing program associatedwith source 12. As described above, the set-up of system 10, or theparticular affiliate marketing program being conducted, will influencehow processing occurs. For example, as described above, the multilevelaffiliate marketing program may default all purchasers to become anaffiliate member unless he or she opts out of that opportunity.Alternatively, system 10 may require that the person, such as person P1in the example, choose to become an affiliate member. Also, a person(such as Person P1) may choose to become an affiliate member even thoughperson P1 has not made a purchase. In any case, when system 10determines at step 62 that person P1 is to become an affiliate member,processing advances to step 64 at which system 10 processes theregistration of person P1 as a new affiliate member by prompting personP1 to enter identifying information, as described above. As part of theregistration process, system 10 assigns person P1 a unique identifier(step 66), indexes the new affiliate member P1 in the proper location ofthe developing affiliate marketing network by placing a record for newaffiliate member P1 in the database 13 or 27 (step 68), and mayestablish an online accessible user account for the new affiliate memberP1 (step 70). Additionally, as part of the registration process, theuser either establishes a payment account or uses a payment accountalready established. Payment accounts such as those offered by PayPaland Google are examples of the type of payment account established orused in accordance with the present invention. In particular, suchaccounts use a second payment account (such as a credit, debit or checkaccount) and include steps of verifying a bank account. Suchverification steps may include, for example, making two small depositsinto the bank account of the user and then requiring the user to confirmonline the date and amounts of those deposits. Accordingly, in the eventthat person registering as an affiliate member does not already have apayment account, the registration process may be delayed while theseverification procedures are carried out. As described above, the uniqueidentifier may be used in a hyperlink presented in electroniccommunications for granting access to source 12 (or gateway 26) and toallow system 10 to associate an access to the source 12 (or gateway 26)with the new affiliate member P1. Although not illustrated, theregistration process may also require the new affiliate member P1 tomake a payment (if a payment is required to become an affiliate member)and to agree to the terms of one or more agreements.

Upon completion of the registration process, processing advances to step72 at which system 10 automatically generates and sends at least oneelectronic communication to an electronic address of new affiliatemember P1. In one embodiment, as described above, the electroniccommunication sent at step 72 includes the unique link identifier ofaffiliate member P1 so that persons accessing source 12 (or gateway 26)via the link can be associated by system 10 with person P1. As describedabove, the electronic communication sent to person P1 at this stepcomprises a previously made email template, containing information suchas that set forth in FIG. 6, albeit with the unique link placed into thecommunication, where the email is retrieved from a memory of the system,populated in its body with the unique link, populated in an addressfield with an email address of person P1, and sent to the email addressof P1. In accordance with a more advanced aspect of the presentinvention, system 10 stores a number of different premade (i.e., canned)email templates, and system 10 automatically selects which template touse based upon information pertaining to person P1. For example, duringthe registration process, person P1 could be asked to provide personalinformation (perhaps allowing the response to be optional) pertaining tohis or her age, income level, school graduation level, and/or gender.Additionally, system 10 could prompt person P1 to enter personalpreference information of a variety of types. Based upon thatinformation, system 10 could choose an email template that is designedin a way that is believed to be the most successful with, or useful to,person P1. Alternatively, if person P1 made a purchase, then system 10could use that information to select a particular canned email or topopulate the email. For example, if person P1 bought a product known as“widget A”, the email could be populated with information about widget Aand with text such as “I bought widget A. I think you would like it,too.” Additionally, products that relate to widget A, fall in the samecategory as widget A, or which system 10 knows that others who havebought widget A have also bought could be represented in the emailcommunication. These features of the present invention furtherpersonalizes the process of developing the affiliate marketing networkand makes the electronic communications more relevant to its target(i.e., person P1 in this example) and those to whom person P1 is likelyto send the email. Accordingly, as one example, an organization thatoffers books pertaining to a particular subject could have informationabout those persons that are potentially and most likely interested abook on that particular subject. Of course, this level of complexity isnot necessary to meaningful use of the present invention. As will beappreciated from the foregoing, person P1 can then forward the receivedelectronic communication to others and processing returns to step 52concerning those attempting to access source 12 or gateway 26 via theuniquely coded link.

If it is determined at step 62 that person P1 is not to become a newaffiliate member, then system 10 awaits instruction from person P1, ifany, such as redirect to other pages to review more product, etc., orends processing, as illustrated at step 74. However, as far asprocessing concerning the development of the multilevel affiliatemarketing network is concerned, processing is ended at step 74. However,as will be appreciated, the person P1 may, in such a case, elect tobecome an affiliate member before leaving the site, in which case system10 would make that determination at step 62 and processing returns tothe registration process.

The following table, denoted as Table 1, is an example of a commissionstructure that source 12 has decided upon for its affiliate marketingprogram.

TABLE 1 Level 1 1% Level 2 1% Level 3 1% Level 4 1% Level 5 1% Level 61% Level 7 4%In particular, as illustrated in this example, source 12 has elected topay commissions of up to ten percent (10%) to the multilevel affiliatemarketing organization on purchases made at source 12 according to thepresent invention. Additionally, source 12 has structured its commissionprogram to pay commissions to an affiliate member for purchases madethrough seven levels of that affiliate member's direct multi-levelaffiliate market network. As illustrated in Table 1, commissions for onpurchases made on a first level (including directly sponsored affiliatemembers and their customers) is one percent (1%). Similarly, source 12has elected to pay a one percent (1%) commission on purchases made byaffiliate members and their customers on levels two (2) through six (6).Source 12 has elected to make a larger commission allocation and payoutof four percent (4%) on purchases made by affiliate members and theircustomers on level seven (7). It should be understood that thecommission structure shown in FIG. 11 is merely one example and that thesoftware of the present invention is scalable and allows a merchant tostructure the commission program in a wide-variety of manners. Forexample, a merchant can choose the total commission percentage to beallocated and paid to the multi-level affiliate marketing organization.The merchant can choose the number of levels through which to spread acommission for a purchase. The merchant can choose the particularpercentage commission to pay on each level. Additionally, the softwareand system of the present invention permits the establishment ofprerequisites or criteria for making a commission payment, such as thenecessity to have directly sponsored a minimum number of persons or therequirement of a minimum monetary amount of purchases in a given periodbefore a commission is triggered. Additionally, the affiliate marketingprogram can include promotions and/or bonus structures, with commissionpayouts and/or bonuses being based upon a particular position,promotional level or other accomplishment of an affiliate member. Itshould be understood, however, that such additional complexity is not arequirement of the present invention and that one preferred embodimentof the present invention is a simple multi-level direct affiliatemarketing program with a consistent commission structure and noopportunities for promotion.

Accordingly, using the commission structure illustrated in Table 1 andthe example of person P1's direct affiliate marketing network shown inthe graphical tree of 28 FIG. 2 and the database structure of FIG. 4, anexample is now provided. In particular, assume that affiliate member P27or a customer of affiliate member 27 (meaning a purchaser who has notbecome an affiliate member) makes a $100 (USD) purchase at source 12according to the principles of the present invention. System 10, andparticularly a processor (i.e., server) at system 10, captures theunique identifying link and associates that link with person P27 usingthe database described above. Using the commission structure found inTable 1, which is provided in memory, the system calculates that a tenpercent (10%) commission is payable to the multi-level affiliatemarketing network. Using the database, system 10 determines that personP27 is on the first level of person P26, who in turn is on the firstlevel of P25, who is on the first level of P24, who is on the firstlevel of P19, who is on the first level of P10, who is on the firstlevel of P4, who is on P1's first level. Accordingly, using thecommission structure of the affiliate marketing program as set forth inTable 1, system 10 allocates a commission on the $100 (USD) purchase asset forth in the following Table 2.

TABLE 2 Person P1  4% $4.00 (7th level commission) Person P4  1% 1.00(6th level commission) Person P10  1% 1.00 (5th level commission) PersonP19  1% 1.00 (4th level commission) Person P24  1% 1.00 (3rd levelcommission) Person P25  1% 1.00 (2nd level commission) Person P26  1%1.00 (1st level commission) Total 10% $10.00It will also be understood that the affiliate marketing program can be,and will often likely be, structured to pay a direct commission back toan affiliate member for his and/or her own purchases and the purchasesof customers directly associated with the affiliate member. Suchcommissions may be identified as being on Level 0, for example. In otherwords, while the foregoing example shows multilevel commission paymentson levels beneath an affiliate member, it will be readily understoodthat the commission structure could include commissions on level 0, orthat level 0 commissions are part of a separate commission structure.For example, the commission structure could be set-up to requireprerequisites for commission payouts on levels 1-7 (as discussed)without requiring the same prerequisites for a commission payout onlevel O. Additionally, multiple commission structures may be used.Assume, for example, that an organization sells voice-over-IPsubscription services as well as communications hardware, such ashandsets, desktop voice-over-IP telephones and computers. One commissionstructure may be applicable to commissions on sales of the VOIP serviceand another commission structure may be applicable to commissions onsales of communications hardware. Similar examples of the potential useof multiple commission structures could apply to organizations that sellcontent (media such as music and videos and/or digital books) and mediaplayers. Accordingly, the provided example is merely one example of anapproach that could be utilized, but should in no way be construed aslimiting.

With reference to FIG. 11, an electronic toolbar of the presentinvention is illustrated and described.

FIG. 11 illustrates an electronic toolbar denoted by reference numeral100 that may be downloaded from source 12 or gateway 26 for placement,for example, on a desktop screen of a communications device 14. Asillustrated, toolbar 100 may include a variety of objects 104 and may beused for a variety of functions and purposes. Toolbar 100 is shownhaving a logo 102 associated with source 12 or gateway 26 and objectsindicative of functions associated with the direct affiliate marketingprogram of the present invention. The objects of the toolbar arehyperlinks that, when selected, link communications device 14 to acorresponding page of a website associated with source 12 and/or gateway26. As illustrated, many of the objects in the toolbar correspond toobjects and features of the user-account described above in conjunctionwith FIG. 8. Additionally, the toolbar can be used to be notified ofalerts awaiting at source 12 or gateway 26.

With reference to FIG. 12, an alternate embodiment of the presentinvention is illustrated and described.

FIG. 12 is similar to FIG. 1. However, in the embodiment of FIG. 12 thegateway 26 serves as a portal 106 that provides and manages themultilevel affiliate marketing program of the present invention. Inparticular, the portal 106 has relationships, such as contractualaffiliate relationships, with a number of different merchants 108.Portal 106 prepares electronic communications presenting goods, servicesor content of merchants 108 and develops a multi-level affiliatemarketing network as described above. In such an embodiment, portal 108operates to perform the affiliate member registration process describedabove and operates to capture the identity of an affiliate member uponaccess to the portal using a uniquely coded link in an email, and thenredirects the accessing party to a particular merchant 108 that is alsoidentified by the link. In one embodiment of the invention, portal 108creates and sends emails that contain information regarding a pluralityof different merchants, such as for example the email illustrated in,and described below in conjunction with, FIG. 13. As illustrated in FIG.13 by way of an example, particular content or subject matter presentedin an electronic communication from portal 108 corresponds to onemerchant 108, such as Merchant 1, while other content or subject matterpresented in the email from portal 108 corresponds to a differentmerchant 108, such as Merchant 2. Accordingly, each particular contentor subject matter has a different link associated with it. Accordingly,when a person receiving the email selects a particular content orsubject matter, he or she is navigated to portal 106. Portal 106captures the identity of the affiliate member as described above (inthis example, person P1) and also uses the specific information in thelink to redirect the person to a corresponding page on a website of themerchant associated with the selected content or subject matter. Thus,for example, assume that the content “cookware” in the email of FIG. 13corresponds with a company “Merchant 1” represented in the email, whichin turn is Merchant 1 in FIG. 12. When, for example, person P1 forwardsthe email of FIG. 13 to person P2 and person P2 selects “cookware”,person P2 (i.e., his or her communications device 14) is navigated tosource 106 and source 106 associates the access with person P1 (asdescribed above) and redirects the navigation to a corresponding page onthe website of Merchant 1. Any purchases made by person P1 are reportedback to portal 106 and portal 106 allocates any earned commissions toperson P1. Accordingly, as a simple example, assume person P2 purchases$100 (USD) of cookware at Merchant P1 and Merchant P1 has agreed to payportal 106 a 15% commission. Merchant P1 would pay portal 106 $15.00 forthe commission. In turn, portal 106 would allocate commissions to thevarious levels of the multi-level affiliate marketing organizationaccording to a defined commission structure. For example, in the presentembodiment, perhaps portal 106 has structured its commission payouts toamount to 50 percent (50%) of its receipts, in which case 7.50 would bereturned to the affiliate member network according to the commissionstructure in place.

In accordance with an additional aspect of the present invention, portal106 may conduct limited marketing programs for merchants. Examples ofsuch limited programs include new product introductions and/or periodicpromotions in which commissions are only paid during a period of time orfor a particular product (or both). Such programs can be used bymerchants to increase traffic and sales to a site without obligating themerchant to ongoing affiliate commissions to source portal 106.

With additional reference to FIG. 13, email 110 contains a plurality ofdifferent subject matter or content areas 112, each corresponding to adifferent merchant. Each subject matter or content area preferablyincludes text and/or images to present the subject matter or content andreferences a unique link 114. Thus, the electronic address and/or pathfor each subject matter or content area is unique, thereby enablingportal 106 to identify the proper affiliate member and a source to whichto redirect navigation. Alternatively, it should be understood that eachunique link 114 may navigate directly to the associated Merchant 108 andthat the Merchant 108 then communicates back with portal 106 anypurchase and/or commission information. Additionally, email 110preferably includes trademarks, names or logos of the Merchants 108. Forexample, the each item in the list of Merchants 108 set forth in theemail 110 may also be a link to link to a website of that particularmerchant.

With additional reference to FIG. 15, an additional embodiment and/orfeature of the present invention is illustrated and described.

In one embodiment of the invention in which multiple merchants areinvolved, the present invention may offer the ability of an affiliatemember to select the merchants with which he, she or it wishes to beaffiliated. For example, in the embodiment discussed above withreference to FIG. 12 and FIG. 13, one embodiment of the invention isthat an affiliate member is automatically associated by default with allparticipating merchants but, using the personal user-account, theaffiliate member can unselect desired merchants. Thus, for example, ifan affiliate member is philosophically opposed to an affiliation with aparticular merchant, the affiliate member may participate in theaffiliate marketing program but need not be affiliated with thatparticular merchant. Alternatively, a new affiliate member can beprompted to visit a web-page at which merchants are selected by name orby product/service content category, such as shown in FIG. 15.Additionally, the system can require a payment for each affiliate memberchosen to be represented and can place limits on representation suchthat a person can only represent a selected number of merchants at atime or within a given time-frame.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, eachaffiliate member may access websites of participating merchants via theaffiliate member's user account and get discounts on purchases made atparticipating merchants by virtue of the a contractual agreement withsource 12, gateway 26, or portal 106 and the participating merchants. Byaccessing a participating merchants website via a user-account, theaffiliate member is identified such that discounts and/or commissionscan be applied. Additionally, each affiliate member may be given acoupon number or code for providing to participating merchants in orderto obtain a discount and/or get commission-credit for purchases (whetheronline on the Internet or not). Additionally, each affiliate member maybe issued a shopping account that may be used at participating merchantsto obtain a discount and/or get commission credit for purchases. Such ashopping account may include a shopping card that is swiped, scanned orotherwise read or detected at a point of sale terminal. Additionally,the account may be combined or associated with debit or credit accountfeatures such that the account is also used for paying for purchases.

From the foregoing, it is seen that the present invention offers aunique and highly effective and efficient way to develop and maintain amultilevel affiliate marketing network or organization of independentaffiliate members. Through simple email campaigns, a network can developvirally with little effort on the part of affiliate members. It shouldbe understood that the present invention may be comprised of a suite ofsoftware tools or modules, such as a shopping cart module for performingshopping cart and payment functions (or communicating with other modulesfor payment functionality) and a separate affiliate member managementmodule for managing some or all of the functions of registration ofaffiliate members, assigning unique identifiers; generating electroniccommunications with uniquely encoded links, providing user accounts, andallocating commissions. Additionally, it should be understood that thepresent invention may cooperate with existing multi-level marketingmanagement software and tools so that existing multi-level marketingprograms, such as those having independent consultants, may adopt theunique multi-level affiliate marketing inventions set forth herein. Itshould also be understood that aspects of the present invention mayoperate at gateway 26 in a behind-the-scenes manner, such that access tosource 12 results in communications between source 12 and gateway 26such that gateway 26 is not an initial access site, but is rather aprocessing site to which some or all of the processing and/or storagefunctions of the present invention are transferred.

Additionally, while the preferred embodiment of the present inventioninvolves visual communications such as emails, it should be understoodthat the techniques of the present invention may be employed with audioembodiments, such as a VOIP communications device that receives arecorded audio message that contains a unique identifier of an affiliatemember. A telephone number may be digitally provided for allowing theVOIP communications device to then connect to a source and enter theunique identifier or, as technology permits, to automatically transmitthe unique identifier received from the message. Accordingly, use of the“electronic communication” as set forth herein is intended to include,but not be limited to, visual communications, audio communications, andcombinations thereof. It should also be understood, from the descriptionabove, that the electronic communications may be wireless, such aswireless emails and messages sent to a cellular telephone. Additionally,the uniquely encoded links generated by the system of the presentinvention may be placed in, or communicated in conjunction with,electronic communications such as, RSS feeds, electronic chats, instantmessages, search results (including a paid sponsorship), advertisements,threads or messages in online forums, web-pages, including but notlimited to shared web-pages, mash-ups (that mix and match content),wikis (such as a free web-page that is easily edited by a member of thepublic, with the link presumably being placed by the one who establishesor maintains the wiki), and filters (that filter content based uponcriteria).

It will be understood that certain features and subcombinations of thepresent invention are of utility and may be employed without otherfeatures or subcombinations of the present invention. This iscontemplated by and is within the scope of the claims. Since manypossible embodiments may be made of the invention without departing fromthe scope thereof, it will be understood that all subject matter hereinand in the accompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrative,and not limiting.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method of marketingofferings from a plurality of merchants, said computer-implementedmethod comprising: providing, via an electronically-accessible site, acommunication platform for communicating visual communications, whereinsaid providing of said communication platform employs at least oneelectronic processor and a database; establishing a relationship with aplurality of merchants; associating each of said plurality of merchantswith a webpage, such that each merchant corresponds to a respectivewebpage and each merchant's webpage is associated with saidcommunication platform; receiving an enrollment of a person enrolling tobe a first member of said communication platform; providing to saidfirst member of said communication platform, via saidelectronically-accessible site, a membership account; providing to saidfirst member, via said membership account at saidelectronically-accessible site, at least one webpage for displayinginformation; enabling the first member to select a plurality of digitalimages for presentation in visual electronic communications of the firstmember; receiving selections, based upon inputs by the first member, ofa plurality of items in the creation of a visual electroniccommunication of the first member, wherein each said item of saidplurality of selected items corresponds to an offering of a merchant andwherein at least one merchant has at least one offering presented insaid visual electronic communication; enabling said first member toenter text for display in association with said visual electroniccommunication corresponding to the first member; associating, with eachitem of said plurality of selected items, a corresponding electroniclink for electronically linking said merchant's webpage associated withthe item, wherein each said electronic link comprises an identifier thatenables an electronic processor to identify the first member; displayinginformation that is indicative of an opportunity to become a member ofsaid communications platform, wherein said information that isindicative of an opportunity to become a member of said communicationsplatform comprises at least one of an icon, a logo, and text indicativeof an opportunity to become a member of said communications platform;communicating said visual electronic communication of said first memberby publishing to said site said visual electronic communicationincluding said selected digital images; receiving, at an electronicprocessor and initiated from a communications device, an electronicindication that a one of said electronic links corresponding to an itempresented in said visual electronic communication of said first memberat the site at which the visual electronic communication is presentedhas been selected, wherein said received electronic indication comprisesan electronic communication indicative of a selection of said electroniclink; electronically directing, based upon said received electronicindication that a one of said electronic links in said visual electroniccommunication of the first member has been selected, the communicationsdevice from which said selected electronic link was selected to thewebpage corresponding to said selected electronic link; receiving afirst commission from the merchant corresponding to the selectedelectronic link for a purchase, of the selected item, from the merchantby the party who selected said electronic link corresponding with themerchant; receiving information indicative of a redistribution by asecond member of said visual electronic communication of said firstmember; automatically associating with said redistributed visualelectronic communication a new electronic link that enables anelectronic processor to identify the second member; receiving, at anelectronic processor and initiated from a communications device, anelectronic indication that said new electronic link associated with saidredistributed visual electronic communication of said second member atthe site at which the redistributed visual electronic communication ispresented has been selected; electronically directing, based upon saidreceived electronic indication that said new electronic link associatedwith said redistributed visual electronic communication of the secondmember has been selected, the communications device from which saidselected new electronic link was selected to the webpage of a merchantcorresponding to said selected new electronic link in said redistributedvisual electronic communication; receiving a second commission from themerchant corresponding to the selected new electronic link in theredistributed visual electronic communication of said second member fora purchase from the merchant by the party who selected said newelectronic link corresponding with the merchant in the redistributedvisual electronic communication of said second member; enabling saidfirst member to access, via the first member's membership account, saidwebpages corresponding to said merchants with which said relationshipshave been established; receiving a third commission on a purchase madeby the first member when said first member accesses said webpagecorresponding to the merchant via said first member's membership accountat said site; enabling said second member to access, via the secondmember's membership account, said webpages corresponding to saidmerchants with which a relationship has been established; receiving afourth commission on a purchase made by the second member when saidsecond member accesses said webpage corresponding to an item offered bythe merchant via said second member's membership account at said site;enabling said first member to enroll into a first payment account,wherein said first payment account enables the first member to makepurchases online and at physical retail stores; and enabling said secondmember to enroll into a second payment account, wherein said secondpayment account enables the second member to make purchases online andat physical retail stores.
 2. The method as set forth in claim 1,further including the steps of: enabling the first member to invite, viaan electronic message, another person to become a new member in saidcommunications platform; enrolling the invited person as the secondmember of said communication platform; enabling the second member ofsaid communication platform to view said visual electronic communicationof said first member; and enabling said second member to redistributesaid visual electronic communication of said first member.
 3. The methodas set forth in claim 1, wherein a plurality of different merchants haveofferings presented in said visual electronic communication.
 4. Themethod as set forth in claim 1, said method further comprising providinga special, limited-time offer to said first and said second members onbehalf of one of said merchants, wherein said offer comprises an offerfor a discount on a purchase price of a good sold by said merchantassociated with said special, limited-time offer.
 5. The method as setforth in claim 1, wherein said providing, via saidelectronically-accessible site, said communication platform forcommunicating visual communications comprises providing a website thatcomprises a mash-up.
 6. The method as set forth in claim 1, said methodfurther comprising providing a discount buying program for consumableproducts.
 7. The method as set forth in claim 1, said method furthercomprising providing a particular service feature and establishing andrequiring receipt from said first member of a periodic membership fee toenable said particular service feature.
 8. The method as set forth inclaim 1, said method further comprising providing functionality for eachsaid member to use a personal contact list, accessible via said site, tosend an electronic message to a person listed in said personal contactlist.
 9. The method as set forth in claim 1, said method furthercomprising receiving an enrollment of said first member into said firstpayment account, allocating a portion of said third commission to saidfirst member, and depositing said third commission into a paymentaccount of said first member into which said first member enrolled. 10.The method as set forth in claim 1, said method further comprisingreceiving an enrollment of said first member into said first paymentaccount and depositing into said first payment account money owed tosaid first member.
 11. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein saidproviding, via an electronically-accessible site, a communicationplatform for communicating visual communications comprises providingsaid electronically-accessible site to a mobile communications deviceand wherein said receiving an electronic indication that a one of saidelectronic links corresponding to an item presented in said visualelectronic communication of said first member at the site comprisesreceiving said electronic indication from said mobile communicationsdevice.
 12. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein said providing,via an electronically-accessible site, a communication platform forcommunicating visual communications comprises providing saidelectronically-accessible site to an interactive television and whereinsaid receiving an electronic indication that a one of said electroniclinks corresponding to an item presented in said visual electroniccommunication of said first member at the site comprises receiving saidelectronic indication from said interactive television.
 13. The methodas set forth in claim 1, said method further comprising providing aclick-to-call function, in association with a said item presented insaid visual electronic communication, that enables a viewer of saidvisual electronic communication to initiate a voice communication with amerchant corresponding to the item associated with said click-to-callfunction.
 14. The method as set forth in claim 1, said method furthercomprising providing a click-to-call function, in association with saiditem presented in said visual electronic communication, that enables aviewer of said visual electronic communication to initiate anaudio/visual communication with a merchant corresponding to the itemassociated with said click-to-call function.